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U.S. History Unit 1: Colonization and the Rise of the United States (Vocabulary)

Indigenous Societies and Geography

  • Learning objective connections: Compare and contrast indigenous societies and cultures; analyze how climate and geography shaped cultural development.
  • Indigenous Cultural Regions to know:
    • Southeast
    • Northeast/Eastern Woodlands
    • Great Plains
    • Southwest
    • Pacific Coast (including Northwest and California)
  • Notable pre-contact civilizations and sites:
    • Cahokia – major mound-building city in the Mississippi Valley
    • Aztec Empire – large, sophisticated Mesoamerican civilization
  • Key concepts:
    • Geography and environment as drivers of social organization, economies, and technology (e.g., farming vs. hunter-gatherer lifestyles, trade networks, settlement patterns)
  • Significance:
    • These regional differences influenced later interactions with Europeans and shaped colonial policies and conflicts.

Atlantic World: Exploration, Exchange, and Native Populations

  • Core objectives and drivers of exploration:
    • Economic motives (gold, trade routes, mercantilism)
    • Religious and political motives (spread of faith, competition among empires)
    • Technological and navigational advances enabling long oceanic voyages
  • Outcomes and impacts:
    • Exchange of ideas, goods, diseases, and people across the Atlantic
    • Devastating effects on many native populations due to disease, displacement, and conquest
  • Key terms to know:
    • Triangle Trade / Atlantic Slave Trade – transatlantic movement of slaves, crops, and goods
    • Mercantilism – economic theory stressing mother-country extraction of wealth via trade surpluses and colonial control
    • Navigation Acts – British laws regulating colonial trade to favor England’s economy
  • Connections to colonization:
    • European colonial expansion was deeply tied to Atlantic trade networks and imperial competition

European Colonization in the Americas by Power

  • Geographic focus by colonizer:
    • Spanish colonization – concentrates in the Caribbean, Mexico, parts of the American Southwest; heavy emphasis on missionary activity and resource extraction
    • French colonization – focus on the St. Lawrence River, Great Lakes, Mississippi River valley; fur trade and alliances with Native Americans
    • British colonization – extensive settlement along the Atlantic coast; diverse regions with varying economies and religious groups
  • Relations with Native Americans:
    • Varied alliances, trade relationships, and conflicts across different regions and time periods
  • Key consequences:
    • Displacement of Native peoples, shifts in power, and the emergence of new colonial societies with distinct religious, economic, and political structures

Colonies: Settlement Patterns, Religion, and Native Relations

  • Chesapeake (Southern) Colonies – key characteristics:
    • Jamestown as the first successful English settlement
    • Tobacco economy and reliance on enslaved labor
  • Middle Colonies – key characteristics:
    • Economic diversity, fertile land, and notable religious tolerance (e.g., Quakers in Pennsylvania)
  • New England (Northern) Colonies – key characteristics:
    • Puritan foundations, communal religious life, and mixed economies (fishing, trade, small-scale farming)
  • Slavery in British colonies:
    • Geographic distribution of slavery and where enslaved people were most concentrated
    • Early resistance and forms of labor discipline
  • Notable events/figures:
    • Bacon’s Rebellion – illustrate social tensions and class conflict in frontier colonies
  • Foundations of British legal and political culture:
    • Magna Carta – limits on monarchical power and protection of certain liberties
    • English Bill of Rights – further limits on royal authority and protections for Parliament and individuals

The Road to Independence: Colonial Grievances and Revolutionary Thought

  • Core causes of the American Revolution:
    • Economic: Mercantilist policies and taxes imposed by Parliament without colonial representation
    • Intellectual: Enlightenment ideas of natural rights and limited government; John Locke’s influence on government by consent and right to rebel
    • Religious and social: First Great Awakening and challenges to established authority
    • Immediate triggers: policies and acts that escalated tensions (see Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Declaratory Act)
  • Specific acts and events to know:
    • Proclamation of 1763 – restricted western expansion beyond the Appalachian Mountains
    • Sugar Act – tax on sugar and molasses to raise revenue
    • Stamp Act – systematic tax on printed materials
    • Declaratory Act – asserted Parliament’s authority over the colonies
    • Townshend Acts – duties on trade goods; led to boycotts
    • Boston Massacre – conflict and propaganda symbolizing colonial grievances
    • Boston Tea Party – protest against tea tax and monopoly
    • Coercive (Intolerable) Acts – punitive measures against Massachusetts
    • Committees of Correspondence – networks for colonial communication and coordination
    • Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty – colonial protest movements
    • Common Sense – Paine’s pamphlet advocating independence
  • Revolutionary thought and debate:
    • Continental Congress as a forum for uniting colonies and coordinating strategy
    • Declaration of Independence – articulation of rights and grievances, break from Britain
  • Connections to Enlightenment and religious movements:
    • Emphasis on natural rights, consent of the governed, and social contracts
    • Religious liberty and dissent shaped colonial identity and justifications for rebellion

The American Revolution and Its Aftermath: Key Military and Diplomatic Events

  • Major conflicts and turning points:
    • Battle of Lexington and Concord – beginnings of the war
    • Battle of Saratoga – major American victory that shifted momentum and secured foreign support
    • Treaty of Paris 1783 – formal recognition of American independence
  • Northwest Territory and governance:
    • Northwest Ordinance of 1787 – established governance structure, set pathways for statehood, and prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory
  • Concepts of citizenship and rights:
    • Natural-born vs. naturalization; assimilation; gradual emancipation discussions

The Articles of Confederation: Structure, Weaknesses, and Early Governance

  • Core features:
    • A loose confederation of states with a weak central government
  • Major weaknesses:
    • No power to tax or regulate commerce
    • No strong executive or national judiciary; limited ability to enforce laws
    • Difficult passage of major legislation due to supermajority requirements
  • Context for change:
    • Fear of centralized power echoing colonial grievances and protecting individual liberties
  • Shays’ Rebellion as a catalyst:
    • Illustrates weaknesses of the Articles and the call for a stronger federal government

The Constitutional Convention and the Structure of the U.S. Government

  • Purposes and outcomes:
    • Replaced the Articles with a new framework for a stronger federal government
  • Key compromises and concepts:
    • Great Compromise – bicameral Congress with House representation by population and Senate equal representation
    • 3/5ths Compromise – counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation purposes
    • Electoral College – mechanism to elect the President
    • Federalism – division of powers between national and state governments
    • Checks and balances – overlapping powers to prevent tyranny
  • Ratification debate:
    • Federalists – favored a strong national government and supported the Constitution
    • Anti-Federalists – feared loss of liberties without a Bill of Rights
    • Bill of Rights – first ten amendments addressing individual liberties and limiting government power

The Bill of Rights and Civil Liberties

  • Core ideas:
    • Protection of individual rights and limits on government power
    • Natural rights as a philosophical underpinning for constitutional protections
  • Citizenship and civil/political rights themes:
    • Natural-born vs naturalization; assimilation policies
  • Ongoing debates:
    • How to balance liberty with governance, and how to address new social and political challenges

Important People, Documents, and Concepts to Remember

  • Christopher Columbus – goals of exploration and relationship with Native Americans
  • Magna Carta – foundational document limiting royal powers
  • English Bill of Rights – further restrictions on monarchy and protections for individuals
  • Declaration of Independence – justification for independence and assertion of natural rights
  • Northwest Ordinance (1787) – governance and expansion framework for future states and prohibition of slavery in the Northwest Territory
  • 1787 Constitutional Convention – central to creating the U.S. Constitution and its compromises
  • The Constitution – framework for federal government, including the three branches and the principle of federalism
  • The Bill of Rights – first ten amendments protecting civil liberties

Concepts, Theories, and Economic Systems to Know

  • Mercantilism – economic theory motivating colonial policies and imperial competition
  • Navigation Acts – laws to regulate colonial trade for England’s benefit
  • Enlightenment – John Locke and natural rights; influence on revolutionary thought
  • First Great Awakening – religious revival that challenged established authority and encouraged new religious and political ideas
  • Slavery in the British Colonies – geography, labor systems, and legal status across regions; impacts on society and economy
  • The Atlantic World and the Transatlantic Trade Network – interconnections shaping economies and cultures across continents

Practice and Review Frameworks

  • Essential questions to mediate study:
    • What were the main factors fueling European exploration and conquest?
    • How did the expansion of the British Empire affect freedoms of Native Americans, the Irish, and English settlers?
    • How did the tobacco economy draw the Chesapeake colonies into the Atlantic world?
    • How did Enlightenment and the First Great Awakening prompt challenges to authority in the colonies?
    • What effects did the American Revolution have on Native Americans, enslaved people, women’s rights, religion, and politics?
  • Test preparation guidance:
    • Review textbook chapters (3, 5, & 7) and other listed resources
    • Practice with primary sources, slides, and activity prompts
    • Focus on matching, multiple choice, and true/false question formats

Quantitative and Notable Dates, Terms, and Concepts (Summary List)

  • Important terms to memorize (selected):
    • Cahokia, Aztec Empire, Indigenous Cultural Regions: Southeast, Northeast/Eastern Woodlands, Great Plains, Southwest, Pacific Coast, Northwest, California
    • Christopher Columbus – goals of exploration; relationship with Native Americans
    • European Exploration and Colonization by country (Spanish, French, British)
    • Triangle Trade / Atlantic Slave Trade
    • Mercantilism, Navigation Acts
    • The Chesapeake (Southern) Colonies – Jamestown
    • Middle Colonies – Quakers
    • New England (Northern) Colonies – Plymouth
    • Slavery in the British Colonies – geographic distribution, Bacon’s Rebellion
    • Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights
    • American Revolution – Background, Continental Congress, Lexington & Concord, Saratoga, Treaty of Paris 1783
    • Declaration of Independence
    • Causes of the American Revolution – Mercantilism, Enlightenment (John Locke, Natural Rights), First Great Awakening, French and Indian War, Proclamation of 1763, “No taxation without representation,” Virtual Representation, Sugar Act, Declaratory Act, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, Coercive Acts, Committees of Correspondence, Sons of Liberty, Daughters of Liberty, Common Sense
    • Northwest Territory & conflict – Northwest Ordinance of 1787
    • Articles of Confederation – structure, weaknesses, Shays’ Rebellion
    • Constitutional Convention of 1787 – Original purpose, Great Compromise, 3/5ths Compromise, Electoral College, Federalism, Checks & Balances
    • Debate Over Ratification – Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Bill of Rights
    • Citizenship – Natural born vs naturalization; Assimilation; Gradual emancipation

Essential Questions (Recap)

  • What were the main factors fueling European exploration and conquest?
  • How did the expansion of the British Empire affect the freedoms of Native Americans, the Irish, and even many English citizens/settlers?
  • How did the tobacco economy draw the Chesapeake colonies into the greater Atlantic world?
  • How did ideas generated by the American Enlightenment and the First Great Awakening prompt challenges to religious, social, and political authorities in the British colonies?
  • What effects did the American Revolution have on Native Americans? Enslaved persons? Women’s rights? Religion? Politics?